


Surprise Reunion

by shippasfuxk



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:27:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29232276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shippasfuxk/pseuds/shippasfuxk
Summary: Just a little one-shot about a reunion in the future of Riverdale.
Relationships: Cheryl Blossom & Toni Topaz, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Comments: 2
Kudos: 58





	Surprise Reunion

Cheryl feels like she just got kicked in the gut.

Veronica told her Toni wouldn't be here. And that's really the only reason she came.

Judging by the look on Toni's face, her friends told her the same. Cheryl opts to just turn around and walk back outside to wait for Veronica so she can yell at her when she arrives.

The truth is, every couple is working out their kinks now; Archie is back from the army and he and Veronica have been adjusting to being around each other, and Betty and Jughead have been on and off for quite a while, or so she's heard.

She and Toni- well they never 'worked it out' like Toni said. Toni never went to college, and Cheryl did. After all, getting your heart broken by the one person you trust will send anyone running for the hills.

She's been back to Riverdale a handful of times; to see Nana Rose, to make sure everything is paid for, and to...well, to snoop. It's in her nature to be nosy about her friends, it always has been, and she misses them even if she wouldn't admit to missing their horrible High School experience.

The only reason she's in town for this stupid reunion is because Nana Rose had a fall on her bad hip and ended up in the hospital. Then, once Nana had heard there was a reunion (from Veronica, of course) she made her go.

Of course she's home to see her Nana, her one living family member in time for a 'chance meeting' with her one and only Toni Topaz.

"Veronica!" Cheryl growls when she sees Archie's pick up pull up.

"Oh shit" she can hear Veronica mumble an explanation for Archie and he laughs.

"Okay. I'll meet you inside, good luck" he kisses her on the cheek and walks over to Cheryl.

"Hey" he says and squeezes her shoulder. "If you wanna get outta here at any point, just let me know okay? I know how much I'd hate to have seen Veronica when I wasn't ready yet." Her gives her a lopsided smile, and walks inside with his hands shoved in his pockets.

Veronica follows, walking toward Cheryl sheepishly.

She only shrugs, as if that solves anything.

"You suck Veronica! So bad. And you owe me so many drinks tonight." Cheryl grabs Veronica's arm and pulls her inside. Maybe she misses some of her old classmates.

Cheryl heads straight for the open bar- Veronica owes her drinks another time. That's when Fangs walks up next to her.

"Long time no see Red." He nudges her shoulder and smiles.

Cheryl is actually happy to see him- he cleaned up nice for this reunion, wearing a nice navy jacket and pant combo, as if he left some important job or something.

Fangs opens his arms for a hug and of course Cheryl obliges, "it's so good to see you, Fangs."

"It's nice to see you too Cheryl. I haven't seen you around in like, ever."

"Well I'm not on the south side much anymore." Cheryl tries to joke but Fangs' laugh seems a little forced.

Fangs hums, "Yeah, I know." He looks sad for a moment but snaps into movement in a second, "but anyway, what have you been up to!"

Cheryl shifts on her feet and debates what to tell Fangs she does for work. Ultimately, she ends up settling on the truth.

She leans on the bar and gets into it, "So you know how my dad ran this 'family business'" she uses her fingers as air quotes and Fangs nods, "Well. For the last 4 years I've been completely dismantling it and selling it!" Cheryl smiles and holds up her drink to Fangs.

"Cheers!" She says and downs the last sip of her drink.

"Wow, Cheryl. That must feel good" Fangs seems happy for her. "Yeah, it is. Plus I don't really have a job now, turns out selling a dead corrupt business isn't too hard. Anyway, what do you do on the south side these days."

Fangs laughs for real this time, "Well I hate to break it to 'ya but I'm actually a functioning North-sider now, I moved in with Kev! And I'm a nurse at the hospital, but I'm thinking of going back to med school." Fangs mutters the last part quietly, as if he shouldn't be proud to share his accomplishments.

"Fangs! That is so great! I'm happy for you guys, and now that I think about it, you would be such a nice nurse to have." Cheryl smiles, deep down wondering if he has seen her Nana in the hospital when she isn't there.

"Well I'm gonna go bring Sweet Pea and T- the table their drinks back now, they're probably watered down by now anyway..." fangs trails off awkwardly, cringing that he almost said Toni's name.

"You can say her name you know, I'm not gonna cry about it." Cheryl says, distracted and more focused on flagging down the bartender.

"But I'll see you later, Fangs." She presses a kiss to his cheek and he heads back to his table.

"That looked nice." Kevin says as Fangs takes his seat next to him.

"Yeah, it was nice to catch up with her. Have you talked to her yet?" He asks and his boyfriend nods.

"Yeah, we had coffee a few days ago and had our annual chat. It's too bad she won't stay for long, she never does." Kevin sighs and Fangs squeezes his hand on the table.

"Oh if only Toni hadn't broken up with her love on prom. I mean prom of all nights...dick move." Sweet Pea says, barely masking his straight face before laughing into his chest.

"Fuck you." Toni says, taking her eyes off the girl at the bar to glare at Sweet Pea.

"Oh, don't mind me! Go back to longing for Cheryl, I'll wait." Sweet Pea smirks and Toni rolls her eyes. She could never escape Pea's endless teasing about her lack of a love life. She managed to date a few girls, but they never stuck around and she found herself starting to think that it was her.

Toni remains quiet for a few minutes, still staring off at the bar when she finally says, "I want a drink."

"Uh Tiny, I can totally see what you're doing and I'll be the first to tell you to get a drink later." Sweet Pea tries but Toni is already up and on her way.

"Shut up Sweet Pea." She mumbles, eyes on the bar. The rest of the table watches, cringing yet unable to take their eyes away from the inevitable car crash that's about to happen.

But, it doesn't.

Toni reaches the bar, and Cheryl turns around right as Toni stops next to her.

"Hey" Toni says and Cheryl scoffs.

"Hey." And she walks away, bumping into Toni's shoulder as she passes, barely sparing her a glance before she's standing with Veronica and Archie.

Toni actually watches her go like a stunned idiot, wondering when she got so close to Archie and Veronica..wondering where she's been, what she's doing. Like she always does.

She hates herself for what happened between them. But she wanted to know her Nana, her only family, and thought Cheryl might understand that- and she did, but only for so long.

Cheryl stuck around in Riverdale for almost a year after graduation, letting herself be strung along and judged by Toni's grandmother. She waited for as long as she could, but then she left.

Toni never got to say goodbye to Cheryl before she went and did whatever she's been doing...it's her fault, she knows. She didn't deserve any heartfelt goodbye from Cheryl, that last year had torn them apart- she was convinced that Cheryl didn't even love her anymore by the time she left.

All of a sudden she's taken out of her thoughts by Veronica's shrill voice calling out her order to the bartender. She looks up at Veronica who's eyes are already looking back at hers. Toni gulps.

"Veronica." She greets her and looks to her drink.

"Antoinette." She greets back, a little bite in her tone.

The bartender hands Veronica her martini- of course- and Veronica shifts her attention to Toni.

"So, the only way I got Cheryl here tonight was to tell her you weren't here. Isn't that fun? Anyway, if you keep staring at her longingly all night, she'll leave. And I'm trying to get her to stay in Riverdale. So if you could please either talk to her or let it go, I'd appreciate it." Veronica sips her glass, pinky raised in poise- of course, and Toni shifts on her feet uncomfortably.

"She wouldn't have come if she knew I was here?" Toni asks, looking at Veronica sadly. Veronica almost feels bad, but then remembers Cheryl after Toni, and then she feels a little angry instead.

"Yeah. Plus considering you haven't reached out once in four or so years, I'd say she isn't exactly happy to see her only ex who she isn't really on good terms with." Veronica rolls her eyes over her drink. How did Toni not get this?

"I did try to reach out. She blocked my number. And then her assistant blocked my number." Toni tries to explain, but Veronica won't buy it.

"There are other ways to reach a girl, Toni. New York is a flight away. When Archie wanted me back he faxed an apology to my printer. He wrote me letters from third-world countries."

Toni sighs and looks down, about to try and defend herself again, but someone is heard clearing their throat on the stage and they both look up to see Kevin on stage with the mic. Toni doesn't miss Veronica's smirk, but she looks to the stage.

"Hello Riverdale graduating class of 2020!" Kevin greets the crowd who cheers in response.

"So we have lots of fun reunion plans for tonight, but first we are going to have the two couples who were prom king and queen- or queen and queen come up for a dance. Unfortunately Betty couldn't be here tonight, so Toni and Cheryl come on up for a quick dance!" Kevin remains cheery and Toni narrows her eyes at Veronica.

"Did you know about this?" She whispers and Veronica nods. "Please. Who's idea do you think it was."

"She hates me" Toni sighs but starts walking over to Cheryl anyway.

Cheryl is obviously even less excited than she is, but Archie gives her a sad smile and nudges her over to Toni when she meets them.

"Come on Cheryl, just a quick dance and we can pretend it didn't happen." Toni practically begs, embarrassed by all the eyes on her.

Cheryl gives it up and takes hold of the hand Toni offers. Cheryl barely holds on and Toni can tell she's itching to let go.

Music is already playing, and they stop on the makeshift dance floor and turn to each other. Cheryl places her hands on Toni's hip, hovering over her and barely making contact. Toni, on the other hand, puts her arms around Cheryl's shoulders like they did on their prom night.

"You can touch me, you know. I won't burn you." Toni mumbles into Cheryl's ear.

"I wouldn't be so sure, you've burned me once." She says back.

Toni is grateful that other couples have started to dance around them, making it less awkward.

Cheryl pulls away and looks down at Toni for a few seconds. She looks away just as fast, but says something as she looks away.

"You know, I remember thinking at Prom, during our dance that I couldn't wait to marry you someday." She scoffs and looks back at Toni. "I never thought you would hurt me Toni. Ever." She reaches up and pulls Toni's arms off of her neck. Toni can see tears in her eyes and nearly starts to cry herself.

"I need some air." Cheryl whispers at the floor as she rushes out of the gym. The music stops and Toni watches her go while the room bursts into claps and cheers.

Ton feels sick. She has no idea how to even approach Cheryl, but after a few minutes she follows her outside.

She tries to quietly walk up to Cheryl, who's standing in the middle of the grass outside the school, looking up at the stars with a cigarette between her lips.

"Hey" Toni clears her throat and Cheryl turns, blowing smoke directly at her with a smirk she doesn't try to hide.

"Is that all you know how to say today?" Cheryl snaps back and Toni clears her throat awkwardly again.

"No" she mumbles and Cheryl rolls her eyes. "Wow, one whole word."

"I don't remember you smoking." Toni ignores her attitude and tries to actually talk to Cheryl.

"Well you haven't seen me in years, so." Cheryl turns her back to Toni and looks back at the sky.

It's quiet and Toni is pretty sure Cheryl ignoring her is probably the end of the conversation, so she considers just going back inside. That is until Cheryl says something.

"I smoke when I'm stressed. Only when I'm stressed." Cheryl turns to Toni, putting her cigarette out beneath her boot.

Toni nods, "Yeah, makes sense."

It's then Cheryl really takes in Toni for the first time in years. Toni is looking down at the ground, scuffing her shoes shyly, her hands shoved in her navy coat pocket. She looks up at Cheryl then, and Cheryl finds herself noticing the changes.

Toni looks...content. Cheryl remembers how angry she used to be all the time, and it made sense because she had so much to be angry about, but now she looks at peace, happy. All of that anger she used to keep with a frown on her face isn't there anymore.

Cheryl finds herself saying, "You look happy." Before she can stop it. Toni meets her eyes and smiles a small smile, "Yea..I am. You look good too, Cheryl."

"Good? I didn't realize you could look good, like as an emotion...unless you mean my looks? Then I obviously agree." Cheryl winks and Toni rolls her eyes fondly.

"Well I guess if you want to take it that way...I meant that you look happy too, but - you know, I can't disagree with what you said." Toni awkwardly stumbles over her words and Cheryl smiles at the kind of compliment.

Cheryl clears her throat awkwardly now, and Toni can't figure out why Cheryl would feel awkward; she's the one who feels small and scared of whatever Cheryl say now. What she doesn't expect is, "how -um how's your Grandmother?"

Toni's eyebrows furrow and she shifts on her feet, "my nana? She's-"

"Your grandmother" Cheryl oddly corrects. Cheryl has every right to dislike her Nana, because she basically told her her whole family was scum to her face, but Toni can't understand why Cheryl would pretend to care and ask how she is.

"Yeah...well she's- she's actually dead now, she has been for almost two years. But, because of her I got to meet some of my other family. She- she accepted me before she died though, which was, well nice."

"Well I'm sorry for your loss, Toni." Cheryl offers and Toni shrugs.

"No you aren't." Toni corrects and Cheryl hums in agreement, "well I feel bad for you, but I can't say I'll miss her- I didn't know her, and she single handedly ruined our relationship."

"I see the Cheryl I used to know is still in there." Toni says fondly and Cheryl smirks, "well it was hard to keep her hidden all this time." She jokes and sighs.

"I should- uh, we should get back inside." Cheryl says and moves to walk past Toni. Toni grabs her arm to stop her from passing.

Cheryl looks down and her face is inches from Toni's, who is staring right back at her. She looks so- so genuine. And for a second, she looks like Toni used to in high school, Toni who was always so sweet to her, Toni who used to pull her out of class and take her to the movies for the whole day just for fun, or because Cheryl was having a bad day.

They were so in love then.

And that's why Cheryl sighs shakily and looks away, before finding the courage to meet Toni's eyes again- and suddenly, she feels like falling. She's thinking about how much she used to love Toni, and how much Toni loved her...and thats why she leans down and kisses her.

Toni squeaks, caught completely by surprise, but she quickly catches on and holds onto Cheryl's shoulders, hoping she won't pull away.

Cheryl's hands brush through Toni's hair, picturing the pink streaks in her hands. Cheryl pushes Toni backwards, and they break apart when Toni's back hits the tree behind them.

They're both breathing heavily, unsure what to say.

"Why did you do that?" Toni mumbles, breathless and distracted by the lipstick smeared on Cheryl's face. When she reaches up and clears it off her bottom lip with her thumb, Cheryl smirks.

Cheryl only kisses Toni again in response, her hand immediately sliding up the sides of Toni's shirt while the girl gasps.

She moves down to Toni's neck when Toni softly pushes her away. "Cheryl?" She prompts, looking sad and pouty and Cheryl curses herself for even caring.

"Whaat" she groans, pulling her hands out of Toni's shirt.

"What are we doing?"

"I mean I feel like that's kind of obvious." Cheryl runs her hands through her hair, trying to fix the mess Toni made of it.

Toni sighs, "so you're just going to be difficult, then?"

"I always am" Cheryl winks at her and Toni shoots back, "Not to me."

"How would you know anymore?" Cheryl quirks her eyebrow and Toni basically stomps back into the school.

Cheryl smacks her butt as she goes, only causing Toni to walk groan and walk faster.

A few minutes later, after Cheryl has checked her appearance in her phone's camera and decided she looks appropriate enough, so she goes back inside. Only Veronica is waiting on the steps with a smirk.

"So," she starts and Cheryl is already mad at herself, "imagine me coming outside to apologize for organizing that little dance-"

"You what?!" Cheryl interjects, but Veronica ignores it.

"Anyway, I come outside to see if you're all mad, but it looked like you were blowing off steam elsewhere."

"Veronica please I'm begging you to stop talking." Cheryl groans and Veronica chuckles and launches back into her monologue.

"So...what were you saying about not wanting to see Toni again earlier?"

"Umm I didn't want to see her. Still probably don't." Cheryl shrugs and starts back inside.

"Oh yeah, 'cause that little groping session was oh so convincing." Veronica teases and Cheryl smiles.

"I don't know what came over me...I just kissed her, I won't do it again...I don't know why I did." Cheryl attempts to explain, coming up short for herself and for Veronica.

"Okay pal lets just go drink wine in our old high school gym...less thinking, more drinking."

-

Later that night, or rather, a few glasses of wine later, Cheryl and Veronica are join their old friends at a table-all of them.

Veronica has successfully gotten them both drunk enough to speak to their exes...of course Cheryl has already seen Toni, and Veronica is dating Archie, but her kind of on and off ex, Betty just got here with Jughead.

Their dating habits really screwed up the friend group.

But while they were all buzzed, they might be able to enjoy their night.

Betty and Veronica were actually starting to get along like they used to before they hooked up all those times. While the rest of the group chattered about something, Cheryl moved to stand next to Toni.

"Hey" she whispers into Toni's ear and the girl jumps.

"Jesus Cheryl, what are you doing?" Toni whisper- yells back, and turns so she's facing Cheryl.

"I dunno" Cheryl shrugs and sips her new glass of wine, "I'm kind of drunk."

"I can see that" Toni scoffs.

"What? Are you mad at me?" Cheryl pouts and Toni sighs, "No I'm not mad at you."

"You wanna come to the bathroom with me then?" Cheryl winks and Toni shakes her head.

"Why not? You used to like it before.." she smirks and Toni's face flushes for a second, "Stop it Cher." is all Toni says, and the pink haired girl just goes back to talking to Fangs.

After a minute, Cheryl finishes her drink and goes to the bathroom.

But not without inviting Toni, of course.

"The offer still stands" Cheryl whispers to Toni and smirks when she sees Toni watch her go.

-

"Tiny, you should go check on Cheryl." Sweet Pea says mid conversation and Toni frowns, "Why me?"

"Oh come on Toni, of course it would be you. Just go see if she's okay, it's been a few minutes." Fangs says, and Toni didn't even really need the convincing; she was thinking about it before Pea even mentioned it.

Toni just gets up and leaves the table without answering Fangs, she gets a water on her way to the bathroom and rushes to Cheryl.

When she gets to the bathroom, she hears a toilet flush and walks over to the open stall. Cheryl is sitting on the bathroom floor with her head leaning down and her hair all over the place.

"Oh, Cher" Toni crouches down to her level and brushes the hair out of her face. Cheryl looks up at her and the poor girl looks miserable. "You feeling better?" Toni asks and Cheryl shakes her head.

"Okay, well here's some water." Toni opens it and holds it up to Cheryl, who only pushes it away.

Toni sighs and puts the water down. She crouches right in front of Cheryl and brushes the hair that is still loose out of her face so she can looks at her.

"I hope this isn't what you invited me to the bathroom for" Toni jokes and Cheryl rolls her eyes. "It wasn't." she defends grouchily, her voice hoarse.

"You feel okay? Are you gonna throw up?" Toni asks and Cheryl grumbles.

Toni sighs and sits on the floor with her; and after a moment, Cheryl rests her head on Toni's shoulder.

"I'm sorry I kissed you." Cheryl says shyly.

"I'm not." Toni says quickly, "I just- I want us to talk Cheryl. It's not that I didn't want to kiss you; believe me, it isn't that."

"We can talk" Cheryl sits up, away from Toni, and before Toni can answer Cheryl is saying "Oh God I'm gonna throw up."

Toni quickly stands up and pulls Cheryls hair away from her face, rubbing her back.

Eventually Cheryl sits back and sighs. "Okay, I'm done now."

"Okay" Toni keeps rubbing her back, "here drink this water." Toni pushes it toward Cheryl put she refuses again, and Toni scoffs.

"Drinking the fucking water you drunkie." she opens it and Cheryl pouts, but drinks it anyway. "Good girl" Toni says under her breath, and enjoys watching Cheryl flush.

"You wanna get outta here then, Cher?"

"Are you asking me to go home with you?" Cheryl winks with a wry smile and Toni shakes her head, "No, I'm asking because someone needs to take you home and I don't want anyone else to. Plus I only came to this in case you were here, so if you leave...what's the point?"

Cheryl sighs sadly, "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Cher." Toni looks at Cheryl and reaches her hand out, "C'mon, let's go." She pulls Cheryl up and waits for her to fix herself up before they go.

Toni holds tightly onto Cheryl's hand as they walk out together, and Cheryl bumps her hip playfully with a smile.

Their friends watch them from the table. Toni doesn't even get the rest of her things, all she has is her car keys, her wallet, and Cheryl's hand in hers.

"I hope they work it out." Veronica says, turning to Betty. They share a long look at each other and Betty agrees, "Mee too. Look how happy they look."

"They literally look like how they used to be in high school."Sweet Pea chimes in, "remember how they used to just be with each other all the time? Sometimes days would pass before Toni told us where she was- it was always with Cheryl, anyway."

"Yeah" Fangs laughs, "there's no way those two don't end up together."

-

They're sitting on Toni's couch, enjoying being around each other for the first time in years. 

"Why didn't you ever call? Or try to reach out to me?" Cheryl asks, quietly breaking the silence, her eyes stuck on Toni's hand on top of hers. 

Toni clears her throat and Cheryl can feel her eyes on her, "Funny you should ask...I'll be right back." Cheryl releases her her hand, and Toni squeezes her knee as she gets up. She comes back a minute later, and Cheryl could hear her opening and closing drawers. 

She sits closer to Cheryl when she gets back, and hands her a pile of envelopes that are sealed, even stamped and addressed to her. 

Cheryl's mouth opens in shock and her eyes already start to water.

"I wrote you a letter every time I wanted to talk to you. A lot of them are like, stupid apology letters and me feeling bad about myself at the beginning, but after that they're full of things I wish you were here for, or things that I wanted to tell you. I'm sorry I ever broke up with you, Cheryl. I should’ve fought harder for us instead of just giving you up for one lousy chance to meet some of my family." Toni looks at her, looking genuinely apologetic.

Cheryl takes the pile from Toni's outstretched hand. "You don't have to read them! I mean- if you don't want to...the point is that I just wanted you to know that I did want to reach out to you, but I was scared you would still hate me and my Nana would still disown me. I'm sorry I was a coward but, but I will keep apologizing for forever until I have you back." Toni sighs, looking as if she just literally had a weight lifted off her shoulders. 

Cheryl's teary eyes look from Toni to the envelopes now all across her lap.

"I...I don't think you'll have to wait forever, TT. Probably not even another minute." Cheryl says breathily, leaning into Toni's space. 

Toni's eyes widen, but she reaches out to lightly touch Cheryl's cheek all the same. She leans in and presses her lips lightly to Cheryl's, ghosting over them until Cheryl kisses her back with no more reservations. Toni pushes Cheryl onto her back, making the envelopes fall all over the floor and Cheryl's sweet giggles in her mouth.

They both wordlessly agree that Cheryl will stay the night at Toni's.

-

Later, in the middle of the night, Toni wakes up to an empty bed. She panics for a second, and looks around for Cheryl. 

She tiptoes down the stairs when she hears rustling and spots Cheryl sitting on the couch, wearing only Toni's old t-shirt and socks with a messy bun on her head. Cheryl is reading through the letters and Toni smiles to herself. 

Cheryl looks up when Toni takes another step down the stairs, a small smile on her face and dried tear stains on her cheeks. 

"Hey" Toni says and joins Cheryl on the couch. She can't help but press a kiss to Cheryl's cheek- well, more than one. Maybe she gets a little carried away.

Cheryl laughs her off and pushes her away gently after a minute. 

Toni spends the rest of the night and into the morning explaining her letters to Cheryl and laughing over stupid stories she wrote, never expecting Cheryl to actually read them.


End file.
